our burrows
into this hole and ate the food it brought; but it did not bring enough
for all--for itself and all the kaldanes that lived upon it, so we had
also to go abroad and get food. This was hard work for our weak legs.
Then it was that we commenced to ride upon the backs of these primitive
rykors. It took many ages, undoubtedly, but at last came the time when
the kaldane had found means to guide the rykor, until presently the
latter depended entirely upon the superior brain of his master to guide
him to food. The brain of the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His
ears went and his eyes, for he no longer had use for them--the kaldane
saw and heard for him. By similar steps the rykor came to go upon its
hind feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther. As the brain
shrank, so did the head. The mouth was the only feature of the head
that was used and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the red race
fell into the hands of our ancestors from time to time. They saw the
beauties and the advantages of the form that nature had given the red
race over that which the rykor was developing into. By intelligent
crossing the present rykor was achieved. He is really solely the
product of the super-intelligence of the kaldane--he is our body, to do
with as we see fit, just as you do what you see fit with your body,
only we have the advantage of possessing an unlimited supply of bodies.
Do you not wish that you were a kaldane?"

For how long they kept her in the subterranean chamber Tara of Helium
did not know. It seemed a very long time. She ate and slept and watched
the interminable lines of creatures that passed the entrance to her
prison. There was a laden line passing from above carrying food, food,
food. In the other line they returned empty handed. When she saw them
she knew that it was daylight above. When they did not pass she knew it
was night, and that the banths were about devouring the rykors that had
been abandoned in the fields the previous day. She commenced to grow
pale and thin. She did not like the food they gave her--it was not
suited to her kind--nor would she have eaten overmuch palatable food,
for the fear of becoming fat. The idea of plumpness had a new
significance here--a horrible significance.

Ghek noted that she was growing thin and white. He spoke to her about
it and she told him that she could not thrive thus beneath the
ground--that she must have fresh air and sunshine, or she would with